the Apple Watch Series 8 has me thinking about the Japanese business philosophy of kaizen. The concept, made famous by Toyota, means continuous improvement. The Series 7 was a minor update to the Series 6, which was an incremental update to the Series 5, which was a small improvement over the Series 4. These updates weren’t much on their own, but they added up, and over time, they’ve widened the gap between the Apple Watch and every other smartwatch.
2022 is a big year for the Apple Watch, but the Series 8 isn’t the star of the show. The new Apple Watch Ultra is the most interesting watch this year, and the second-gen SE replaces the Series 3 at the entry level. That leaves the new Series 8 in the middle.
So no, this isn’t a terribly exciting update. Then again, does it have to be?
All the changes are under the hood
You’d be hard-pressed to spot the differences between the Series 7 and Series 8. Full disclosure: the only reason I can is because my review units are different sizes and colors. This is a fancy way of saying nothing’s changed. The Series 8 still comes in two sizes: 41mm and 45mm. There are fewer color options this time around — RIP green and blue — and that’s about it. The price also remains unchanged. The Series 8 starts at $399 for the GPS-only version and $499 for cellular.
When I saw the 45mm Series 7 and Series 8 side by side last week, I was convinced that the Series 8’s display was a smidge bigger, but it isn’t. It was an illusion: watchOS 9 comes with new watchfaces like Metropolitan that make better use of the watch’s thinner bezels. My Series 8 review unit is the 45mm cellular version in starlight, which is a champagne-y color that splits the difference between gold and silver. I usually prefer smaller watches, but this didn’t look too ridiculous on my smaller wrists. I also appreciated the slight boost in readability that a larger screen provides.
But while everything looks the same to the naked eye, the Series 8 has some significant changes under the hood.
Spoiler alert: it’s not a faster chip. As far as performance and battery life go, the S8 chip is virtually the same as the S7, which is basically the same as the S6. (I’m sensing a theme here.) What the S8 does add to the mix are a bunch of new sensors. Namely, you get two temperature sensors, a new high-g accelerometer, and a new gyroscope. These new sensors are what power the Series 8’s two marquee features: advanced cycle tracking and Crash Detection.
